Monday, January 11, 2010

The Neurovascular Hold

OMG! Post holidaze stress got your knickers in a twist?

The Neurovascular Hold

When you are stressed or feeling blue, this technique releases tension from your body as well as from your mind. Your body still reacts to threat and stress as our ancestors' bodies did millions of years age. Running away or fighting required that the blood rush away from the brain and into the body to support quick action. You are designed to act in an emergency, not to think. The Neurovascular Hold interrupts the fight-or-flight response, bringing blood back to your forebrain so you can think more clearly.

1. Sitting or lying down, tune in to a stress you are feeling or focus on as stressful thought, memory, or situation.

2. Place your thumbs at your temples and the pads of your fingers on your forehead, on the bony area above your eyebrows.

3. Hold here softly for up to three minutes, breathing deeply, in through your nose and out through your mouth.

Alternative: Place the palm of one hand across your forehead and the palm of your other hand across the back of your head. Again, hold softly for up to three minutes, breathing deeply.